Ranking (Almost) Every Mass Effect DLC
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- čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
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The Shadow Broker, Tela Vasir, Balak, Donovan Hock, General Petrovsky, The Shepard Clone... Man the DLC villains tend to be really "extra" don't they.
So the justifications for the Normandy pickup scene: The Reaper IFF makes the Normandy register as a Reaper, and while it can be easily compromised, it still takes an active effort from the Reapers to do so. Harbinger was expecting more Reapers to arrive since it went towards the beam with others, but arrived alone after Hackett delayed the rest. So Harbinger is expecting a Reaper and sees a Reaper, it has no reason to 'do a double' take on the Normandy especially while it's focused on preventing anybody from reaching the beam.
If a single person made it through, it was over for the Reapers, so Harbinger was fully focused on stopping the approaching troops rather than paying attention to the Normandy. And as the ship took off, Harbinger seemed to realize what had happened, since it shows it looking at the ship right as it leaves.
Even once it realized that that was the Normandy and not a Reaper, it had no reason to divert its weapons away form the vitally important job of protecting the beam.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
3:20 F Tier
7:26 D Tier
11:27 C Tier
14:41 B Tier
20:25 A Tier
25:28 S Tier
34:35 Outro
Music in order of appearance, lots of this stuff isn't on the soundtrack so I'm giving my best guesses where needed:
Uncharted Worlds: By Sam Hulick - CA: Electronic Arts
Virmire Battle(?): By Jack Wall Et Al.(?) - CA: Electronic Arts
Therum Battle(?): By Jack Wall Et Al.(?) - CA: Electronic Arts
Lattesh(?): By Jack Wall Et Al.(?) - CA: Electronic Arts
Collector Ship(?): By Jack Wall Et Al.(?) - CA: Electronic Arts
Combat Troops: By Christopher Lennertz - CA: Electronic Arts
Final Conversation: By Christopher Lennertz - CA: Electronic Arts
Callista: By Saki Kaskas - CA: Electronic Arts
Thane: By Jack Wall and David Kates - CA: Electonic Arts
Wake Up: By Sam Hulick - CA: Electonic Arts
Infiltration: By Sascha Dikiciyan and Cris Velasco - CA: Electonic Arts
Terror over Terra Nova(?): By Jack Wall Et Al.(?) - CA: Electronic Arts
Vigil: By Jack Wall - CA: Electronic Arts
Agent Combat: By Christopher Lennertz - CA: Electronic Arts
Leviathan: By Sascha Dikicyan & Cris Velasco - CA: Electronic Arts
Citadel Underbelly By Sascha Dikicyan & Cris Velasco - CA: Electronic Arts
Shop: By Toby Fox - CA: Materia Collective
Earthbound background pattern provided by:
www.gjtorikian.com/Earthbound... - Hry
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Funny enough, the original script I wrote up had me going over a bunch of things I liked about the game, and I had to cut it down for being too long. I actually really enjoyed my time with this game and 110 has been great to work with.
Alright, I can't expect everyone to agree with me on which DLCs are the best/worst. But come on, Arrival was bad, but not that bad. Overlord is probably the one where we disagree the most, it should've been in A tier. Extended Cut should've been C tier.
Also did you say Javik is good for a squad mate because we mostly have paragon squad mates? The only paragon squad mates are Liara and Tali, and we don't get Tali until far into the game. EDI can't be categorized as either cause shes an AI. Everybody else is renegade, Garrus, Ashley, James, Javik.
I also can't say its fair to rip on ME1 and ME2 for having not-as-smooth squad mate interactions as ME3, this is clearly something that got better with each game. Anyway, I'm hoping for a successful Mass Effect TV adaptation, we'll see how that plays out.
From what i saw it looks like all of the minigames were just ripped from yakuza
If you think Omega is the worst DLC, in a series with Firewalker, you need to be lobotomized and studied.
It's a take I never really understood, though I do think it can be interesting to hear why some people have such 'distinct' opinions lol
Indeed. I almost felt in love with Nyreen, and her death hit me like a ME3 Ravager shot
firewalker isn't that bad i liked the uh... the uhhhhh
i can't remember the name of the hovercraft maybe you have a point actually
Hammerhead
Omega is a lot of fun, bruh. Sometimes you just want to wreck shit
How can you put a DLC into F tear that allows you to blow up over 300k Battarians?!
- Colonist Shep, probably
I think that the Normandy SR1 crash site would have been much better if Tali, Garrus, and Joker said anything about it. Tali especially, since Pressly's journal sort of implies that talking with her helped begin Pressly's journey to no longer being a xenophobe.
I think after you do the crash site mission, the first time you speak to Garrus, Tali, and Joker again mention something about it.
Hell give all the squad a bit of dialogue about the event, including EDI.
Tali at least has some dialogue in the face game that indicates that she misses Pressley
@@pikmonwolf Forgot that the dialogue for that existed, but even then, it just feels weird that no one has anything to say during or after the DLC. As you stated in the video, it feels like the ME2 squadmates don't have any agency outside of the main story missions, even during base game side missions that aren't recruitment or loyalty missions they only say some occasional generic statements.
the unxenophobing of Presley is just so out of nowhere, hes a dick all mass effect 1 then after his death its like “jk he changed feel sad!”
it just feels like one writer said fuck Presley hes dying minute 1 and another was like “i want to give him an arc guess ill have to do it post death”
it just breaks my suspension of disbelief so to my head cannon he was a dick then he was a dead dick and im glad hes gone
@@pisscvre69he has like no dialogue in 1 bruh
Whole mass effect 2 had this problem where your squad rarely interacted with each other outside the missions and in DLCs. I noticed this after playing mass effect 3 since that game made your ship feel more alive as the squad actually moved around the ship and interacted with each other after missions. And then came the Andromeda and they overdid the squad interaction thing.
Yeah that's my biggest complaint about 2, really hurts replayability as well
I hate to defend that trash game, but Mass Effect 3 and especially the citadel DLC, did a great job of that. even Andromeda was better
Yeah, I might be mistaken but it feels like there were more squad interaction in Mass Effect 1 when in the Citadel elevators than in the entirety of Mass Effect 2.
I assume this is because of the relatively quick turn around between ME1 and ME2 plus Bioware not knowing how to handle such a large voice cast....
I actually quite like how involved crew was in andromeda and the rec board and jaal giving lessons on his language. Idk it all just made sense to me we aren't playing soldiers in that game and the stakes aren't literally amextermination of all life so I did appreciate the fact our companions did generally seem like friends. This is the one and only feature I hope mass effect 4 carries over.
@@editorrbr2107honestly 3 was a pretty good game after all the kinks were ironed out
It will always make me sad how Dr. Chakwas' VA was unavailable for the Citadel DLC. So many potential interactions we'll never see.
Agreed. She was always so isolated, seeing her interact with everyone would've been awesome.
I think Dr Chakwas is so underutilised across the series. She has very little dialogue outside of a couple of cutscenes, which is really too bad.
Dr. Chocolates. A very respectable position.
mommy chakwas
I think it might have to do something with the fact that Carolyn Seymour, Chakwas' voice actress, also voiced Queen Myrrah.
My only complaint with Citadel is that Mordin and Thane get their tributes but Legion and the dead Virmire squadmate don’t. Other than that, it’s a masterpiece and a great last hurrah for the characters who have practically become family to us all
I think it makes sense not to do a tribute to Ash or Kaidan, since they would've died years ago at that point. Better to put those resources into their living scenes. As for Legion, I've got a lot of complicated feelings on them in Mass Effect 3 so I'm kind of happy they weren't messed with further lol.
Not to mention Kelly if you romance her is treated like she never existed. 😡
@@rickoshay5525 THIS. Pisses me off so much
@@rickoshay5525and they replaced her fish feeding role, what she's probably most known for in the community, with a VI. that's gotta be a low blow 😭
I think having a photo and like doing a drink shot of the "absent friends" would have been good citadel dlc tribute
When garrus said "best years of my life were on that ship." I felt like that was a true send off to the franchise, your best friend and possible love interest saying what we all thought was an amazing and heart breaking moment especially when shepard said. "The best." It was the perfect goodbye.
Yep, especially considering it was the last scene of the final DLC.
Throughout the entire trilogy, I have always stanned for Female shepard due to voice acting. Femshep simply was better voiced as both paragon and renegade I found.....
Except for that last line where Mark Meer simply NAILED. The little "hmph" he makes and the wistful/somewhat melancholic "The best" actually has me tearing up ever so many years later.
@@Allisterhuggins Femshep for the W. Gotta love that Jennifer Hale voice acting.
my first ever bioware game was jade empire from when i was like, 5 so seeing the decline really hurts and i know they'll mess up the upcoming ME game so the citadel is in a really special place of : it's over, now it's just the sadness of shep dying and the fond memories alongside "man, i love bioware...oh look, anthem!"
@@AllisterhugginsI think Meer is better than Hale in 3. Her renegade lines especially feel forced
Gonna be real, I'd put Firewalker at 16. Not that I'm over-inclined to defend Arrival, but I do kinda like the vibe of Shepard having to wriggle out of a situation that they've gotten into on their own, and I do kinda like flipping the bird to Harbinger, even if the writing isn't fantastic. I loathe every time I have to get into that stupid hovercraft. Admittedly, I'm also one of the five people in existence who really genuinely liked the Mako. Admittedly, I also play games like Snowrunner where the only gameplay is navigating terrain.
Ah the Mako was a lot of fun, way better than the Hammerhead. Arrival is definitely less tedious to play through, but I hate it for how the bad writing drags everything down.
I really liked running around with the hammerhead...
I actually liked the hammerhead, i just wish it wasn't made of tissue paper and shot nerf darts.
The mako didn't deserve the hate it got tbh
It's the weirdest meme in the series as a new player and mostly just stems from how shit me1 planets are
@@slamjam7676 The Mako is actually very overpowered. Turns a Geth Armature into slag in 4.5 seconds flat.
The funny part of Arrival is that if you let the countdown clocks expire, you do lose the game. Nice of the devs to account for that possibility!
Arguably more entertaining than the actual dlc.
I actually showed that off in my video about it, giving it credit where it's due.
@@pikmonwolfwhat's hilarious about that game fail cutscene it just had TIM hanging out with the Normandy crew when the reapers show up which is just hilarious to think about.
@@collincaperton6718yeah it looks like someone just fucking around in g mod lol
The first time I heard that pickup sound in firewalker in Legendary edition I legit thought the game had broke
I've heard that it's actually a glitch lol
The sound definitely seems like a corrupted WAV file. So EA is rereleasing good games after breaking their data files and calling it an "upgrade". Pretty par for the course, I'd say.@@pikmonwolf
@@compmanio36 I quite like Legendary Edition overall, but there's definitely new issues and plenty of missed opportunities.
I guess the nice thing is if there's bugs in the LE it has the potential to be patched, while any bugs in the OG are there for life at this point...@@pikmonwolf
Maybe a mod will fix it.
I really enjoyed Arrival, was surprised when Shepard had to lose a fight, and the terror he feels when he sees the object, knowing they are corrupted. Lot of fun action too.
it helps the transition of ME2to ME3 as well, any polish is good polish
I liked it too, especially because you are alone most of the time. There are no squad members to help you. It's only you and your skills. I hardly consider it the worst DLC. Pinnacle Station is the worst DLC for me.
Huge missed opportunity not using the "I should go" bit to end the video. Otherwise excellent and based as always.
When you make videos, you really relate to the "do I sound like that?" aspect of that conversation lmao
If you ever watch big dan gaming this is how he always signs off a video about mass effect
That would've made him come off as a pathetic ass-kisser. I'm glad when people show they have enough of a life not to do that!
Something I appreciate about Overlord is that you can help David for the paragon ending, and you get to pistol whip the doctor without any renegade points. Plus, David winds up being a war asset, so it’s a neat touch.
I do find myself wishing I could just shoot him as a renegade action lol
I’m autistic and so are my kiddos and Overloard always makes me sob uncontrollably when I’m finished. It makes me sick to my stomach and hurts my heart in ways I could never begin to explain… and yet when I do my yearly playthrough I ALWAYS have to save David. It’s important.
@@crystalf1608 I have a relative that is autistic and can't find myself to ever do the option to give David over to Cerberus.
@@crystalf1608It's amazing, and sometimes terrifying, what seeing something you deal with daily being represented in a video game. I have schizophrenia and I felt like that when playing Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. Overlord made me feel similar. People with mental health issues have always been looked down on and sometimes brutally experimented on. Getting to save someone like that in a game was magnificent. Even when Joker talks about biotic humans being considered as "handicapped" while he has brittle bone disease is a cool little interaction. He says maybe now people will stop looking at biotics as a disability. He says if I sneeze hard I can break a rib, being able to move stuff with your mind is not a handicap. These games actually do a great job in representing disparities that exist in real life. Racism compared to Xenophonbia, disabilities, even being "designed to be perfect" fits in there because there is so much pressure for women to be "perfect." And Jack being how she was because of what was done to her. She has a great arc too. She goes from pissed off and angry to very vulnerable in her romance option. I always romance Jack now.
im autistic and only recently finally got to play the dlc myself but i already knew the whole story, so i was shocked by how much it affected me, i hear the music and i start crying, glad i could pistol whip the brother, but i really wish it had let you talk to people on your crew about it i think it is objectively so upsetting it was a bit irresponsible to just leave you with that as how it ends.
it is good that it doesnt end with david okay, dont want the normies to miss the message by being like “oh see hes okay right away just like that! it wasnt THAT bad” and i am glad hes okay in 3, but there needed to be something at the time to discuss what happened, have shepard be a proxy for us being noticeably bothered and when you go to your crew members theyll have thing to say about it
but idk it just really hit home, ive been so heavily dehumanized all my life in response to my autism, its just sad that while it has a powerful message this is the only place an explicitly autistic character was in the series, and i cant really think of any that are good headcannons as autistic, maybe liara???
kaiden actually come to think of it, but yea only explicit autism is just such a sad and upsetting story
Arrival be like:
Dr. Kenson: Shepard, please, touch the Object Rho
Shepard: *touches the Object Rho*
Dr. Kenson: I'm sorry, but I cannot allow you to begin the Project
Shepard: *confused face* Why? You literally three seconds ago asked me to help you, didn't you?
"I can't let you do the thing I just told you how to do!"
Emmm... Object Rho disables Shephard actually by this touch. That was plan to capture him. Just remember that main Collector (which contolled by reapers)in combat says that Shepard needs alive. The game does not explain why, but from guesswork - to replace (or rather for DNA crossing) the main collector.
@@pikmonwolf Logically the game explains this by saying that under indoctrination victim loses mental abilities
Well if Object Rho is reaper material then it's indoctrinated and getting close to it made her go mad
He doesn't touch anything it just activates on its own.
Another thing about Bring Down the Sky: the choice you have to make. You either kill Balak and sacrifice the hostages or save them and let Balak go. Something that Arrival doesn't have. Making a choice.
Even if you kill Balek he lives. 😂
@sourdeez5558 No, he doesn't!
@@sourdeez5558 If he's wounded and left there, he shows up in 3...somehow.
Citadel DLC in ME3 is by far the best in the trilogy. That DLC was dedicated to nothing more than just having a damn good time. It really felt like you were spending time with people you’ve known for years and are proud to call your friends.
I love the ending, when Shep is leaning against the rail, staring at the Normandy, as the surviving crew members (I always lose a few in ME2) rejoin them. Shepard knows it was their last hurrah.
@@legionarybooks13 I hope Shep and crew come back in the next game for one last ride.
@@docproc144 honestly, I hope they don't. To me, they had their one last ride and it ended the way it should. Shepard's sacrifice would be meaningless if he / she comes back from the dead yet again. I hope it's set far into the future, as was hinted at since Liara looks much older in the trailer, with a new protagonist. Let the legends rest and a new generation take the helm. 🙂
@@legionarybooks13 I see where you’re coming from. But, as you know, a lot of people had a problem with Mass Effect 3, more specifically the entire ending of it. I just feel like if the characters returned and BioWare gave them another run they maybe they could give them some proper closure. Liara being heavily featured in the game wouldn’t feel right to me without Shepard by her side, in fact it’d make me more depressed than anything, especially considering she was my love interest throughout my main head canon playthrough. And judging from how the games play out and certain dialogues, it almost seems like that’s the direction BioWare wanted players to go romantically anyway was with Liara. So I consider her romance to be canon. And the new game seems to be canonizing the Destroy ending, which is fine cause that’s what I chose anyway, because that’s the only ending in which Shepard survives(if war assets are high enough). So if the Destroy ending where Shepard lives is canon, and they’re bringing Liara back, and she wiped off a piece of Shepard’s armor and smiled in the trailer, it leads me to believe that Shepard may be coming back as well in this one. The potential for a game set during a post Reaper War galactic reconstruction era is huge.
@@legionarybooks13 I purposely save them so it's a full crew hang out. Everyone but the ones who get killed no matter what in ME3 spending some time together before the final fight.
Im genuinely glad I heard your explanation of why you like leviathan because Ive always liked it but couldnt really put it into words. The theory that "domination" is the end-point of the evolutionary process makes sense since its not only a power in-game, but it also relates back to the main conflicts of the game (the genophage, the creation and control of synthetic or organic life). Maybe the ardat-yakshi fit into this somehow
"I am the genetic destiny of the Asari."
Being sterile is a rather lowsy destiny for a species
*Thoughts* - If Bioware was going to remain wedded to the war assets, completing challenge missions on pinnacle station should have actually counted for something. You have assets you can acquire from other DLC, even a Conrad Verner arc, so why not that one?
The Locust is amazing. Kasumi’s loyalty mission is a must-do first thing if you’re an engineer or adept.
Omega is based. Great combat. Good characters. Solid writing. Fun to wreck. And a REALLY immersive look at Omega.
Would've been fun to have an email Ahern at the very least. And yeah Omega is underrated.
@@pikmonwolfespecially because Omega DLC offers an ability that has massive troll potential for the Kai Leng boss fights...
@@pikmonwolf okay, I need to play through Omega again. I always skip it because Aria is such an arrogant bitch who I've never liked. I suppose I should give her credit where it's due, and just f*ck with her the entire time (lol).
@@pikmonwolf I like Omega a lot because of the specific resolution for the engineer class, I would have loved it if they had thought of this for the other games and classes.
@@emylikula9159absolutely should have had more individuality based on character class etc. (Vega kicking the Rannoch AA gun in ME3 and Edi’s glitch are also an excellent touch)
Zaeed’s DLC is worse than being weird that the new kids on the block created the Blue Suns. It’s a straight up retcon. The first book, Revelation, established the Blue Suns as a very long standing gang in the galaxy. A Batarian has inner monologue about being pissed about humans suddenly making up such a large percentage of the gang even though they’ve barely been on the galactic scene.
Yeah that's a dumb retcon. Still doesn't bug me too much since it's relatively minor. Retcons only really piss me off when they're a bad change to something big.
Taking Mass Effect's EU seriously was your first mistake
Yea it made no sense. I had taken it as Zaaed founded that specific faction of the Blue Suns. Like a franchise.
@@3AHolesI'm pretty sure that was the implication each franchise seems to have its own leader or founder like I could see the blue suns operating in the terminus being different than the ones on the citadel who are also different than the ones on illium.
cerberus invade omega and citadel much more stupid than this
the Genesis 1 comic has one saving grace and that is the glorious image of Garrus doing some matrix leap nonsense while dual wielding guns
I absolutely love the mod that changes the Citadel DLC to be the epilogue. I absolutely get the story relevance of Shepard's sacrifice, but the whole idea of Citadel being the after-party of the Reaper war and Shepard and their crew *finally* getting the chance to relax, only to be hit with the clone? It lends itself well to the comedy of the DLC.
Oh I like this a lot. One day I’ll finally have a pc and be able to do a modded playthrough of the trilogy.
@@alarictheredboi276yearsago4 it's well worth it, the mods can change the 3rd game like crazy. Adds so many cool features
That mod’s the canon ending to the series; no doubt
How does that even work with the endings??
Problem with that interpretation is that at least 2 of the endings end in Shepard's death. The other 2 are, continuing the war without the crucible doing anything and Shep's death being debatable. Citadel being a last hurrah before the end makes more sense to me.
Dude Citadel DLC was the best DLC. It was like the main writer ran into a fanfic writer and they got their notes mixed up and made an absolute memey yet beautiful story.
IMO, the crash site was more there for roleplaying and narrative backstory than anything really.
Pretty much, but sometimes that's all you need.
Arrival may be the worst DLC, but it's easily got one of the best soundtracks imo
Can't argue there
Well, when you first get to the final battle and don't know what will happen next (basically nothing out of the scripted scenario) and just grind on... It's so enraging... I mean you set difficulty to insanety, you play adept or sniper and there is literally no one to actually back you up.. 😅
It also has the best easter egg when you wait out the two day countdown
Oh?@@BlueGamingRage
Yeah the writing is not great but if you turn off your brain and just enjoy the scenery and music It's really fun. I actually enjoyed it a lot.
The way I play mass effect made leviathan feel sooooo good. I tend to chip away at missions and jump between them so slowly building up the revelations of leviathan felt so satisfying
I've done that in a playthrough before. I prefer doing it all in one chunk, but there's a definite charm to the gradual progression.
Speaking of Genesis, G1 even butchers ME2 intro with Miranda and the Illusive Man. Originally, if you transferred ME1 save, it reflected your decision regarding Counsil's fate, but, since with Genesis those lines are replaced with generic "Commander Shepard uncovered the truth" and "We're at war…" lines. The latter line is even reused from later dialogue with TIM.
Anyway, Genesis Intro Dialogue Undo Mod is essential.
Speaking of mods, Pinnacle Station was actually ported into LE by the community.
Oh my god you're right! I could've sworn I remember that dialogue being different, but chalked it up to misremembering. Funny enough if I realized that it might've taken last place from Arrival lol.
Yeah. It removes 'he's a hero, a BLOODY icon'. Which is a shake because its probably the best thing she says
I think (just my opinion) a lot of people didn't like Omega because they simply didn't like Aria. Even though she's voiced by Carrie Anne Moss, Trinity in the Matrix series. She's the crime boss of the Trilogy, even moreso than the Shadow Broker, and Shepard is this icon of virtue. In addition, they kill off the only female Turian we've seen so far, Omega isn't a hub world after you take it back (A lot of people wanted this) and there were a number of pretty bad glitches.
Oh yeah Omega 100% shoulda been a hub, especially for its price.
Ngl I kinda just enjoyed doing a die hard
Wait WHAT??? Trinity voiced Aria? I never knew that! Its insane!
I always felt like Overlord could’ve been so much better if companions had voice lines for certain events/actions.
Miranda, Jack, Tali, and Legion in particular really should’ve had some kind of commentary, since the plot of Overlord is somewhat connected to their characters.
It genuinely blows my mind to see anyone liking the explanation of The Reapers' origins but I can appreciate the new perspective you bring.
I'm curious why you feel so strongly
@@pikmonwolf I'm one of the people who think that their origins shouldn't have been explained at all. You do raise a good point for why that's a good thing but I'd like to counter that:
Everything being explained and detailed except for The Reapers makes them a lot more unique and adds tremendously to their horror aspect. Them never having a proper backstory is what made them so terrifying to begin with, it was never about how powerful they are (from the players' perspective). This is Lovecraftian Horror 101, after all.
As it stands now, their origins is basically Geth but genocidal. I just wish they at least used the Dark Energy idea that Drew Karpyshyn had.
I'll never get past the Xzibit meme: "Yo dawg; I hear you don't want synthetics to kill organics, so I made synthetics to kill organics so that synthetics don't kill organics."
@@GalahadTheSeekerAfter playing Halo I have to agree 100%. The Flood is the same, you have no idea where they come from and what they want besides killing all life, until 343 takes over and starts retconning everything. The way it's explained also sucks, as someone else already said. But I do love the idea of Leviathans themselves, mythical beings that have had billions of years of evolution from an already complex and dominant base
@@gatzmajortz5033 i think the point is that the reapers kill only advanced organics, so that less advanced ones can survive and start the new cycle, as opposed to synthetics who would destroy all organics forever. Still, i agree it is a bit silly.
I gotta say the best thing about citadel to me is that it truly shows that your crew at this point arent just squad mates or friends, but family. The family of the normandy!
It's super well executed!
The Thing about Aria T'loak, atleast that i like to think, she came from a place of comfort and stagnation. She hadnt been truly opposed for a while.
Me3 made her have to reassert herself and show what she was REALLY capable of. Honestly i thought she was scary lol.
I agree, we see that she wasn't all talk and really can tear shit up
20:03 I think it makes sense, the Normandy is staring down harbinger and joker and edi for sure had every single weapon primed, just waiting for harbinger to open his laser eye thingy to try shoot them down. Harbinger knows this and so doesn't fire, knowing a single cruiser and a few soldiers is far less dangerous to the reapers than letting troops board the citadel
Good point. Harbinger would certainly win the fight, but it can't risk even a scratch with the soldiers rushing the beam.
Normandy: DO IT FIRE!!!!
Harbinger: No. You'll lose anyway.
Normandy: Not if I shoot you in the face a couple times. Open the eye or are you scared?
Harbinger: You are nothing but a piece of scrap. Not worth my time.
Normandy: Scared you'll end up like the Collectors?
Harbinger: Get off my hill.
Normandy: Fine. I got what I came for anyway. I'll go back up into space and kill some more off your troops. Shepard can handle you themself. *flies off*
Harbinger: Shepard! You will die here! *fires lazor*
Later-
Shepard: Hey Harbinger.
Harbinger: What!? How....
Shepard: See you in hell. *Destroy ending*
Citadel was such a great dlc. I absolutely loved it. It's always the last dlc I do just before I rush off to the Cerberus base. One last golden moment with your crew before the final push
I always do the main plot after Rannoch since that's generally a 'win' and a nice moment to have fun, but save the party for the very end.
I would think a lot of Mass Effect fans would also like Galaxy Quest. Where Robin Sachs (Zaeed) plays the main antagonist. RIP Robin.
33:40 When I first got this scene it was with Maleshep and Tali, I don't mind saying I legitimately cried when Shepard said "the best" as we look on at the Normandy, knowing he'll die. And man the version with the Thane romance was amazing, it basically implies that Shepard could feel that this would be their last fight before their demise.
That's a grrat scene. And yeah the DLC gave a lot of love to Thane romancers.
Doing the DLC with Jack as your LI, and her genuine love for Shepard and terror that he’ll die is absolutely heartbreaking. It keeps trying to tempt me into survival even though doing so goes against my morals. I cannot abide killing the Geth and EDI just to kill the Reapers and survive. And regardless on how people think of Harper (I think he’s a racist arrogant asshole personally) Control was the only ending I could stomach. Destroy I’ve already talked about and Synthesis is just too ambiguous. Is the rest of the galaxy now a race of Husks? What happens to the Reaper’s Husks if that isn’t the case? I can’t see why it wouldn’t be since for some reason people are suddenly fine with like, the Cannibals and Brutes and Banshees, who must be living horrifically tortured “lives” and were trying to melt people down a couple seconds ago.
@@reaperofthings I prefer Destroy. Control just feels like i'm being indoctrinated like the Illusive man was and Synthisis forcing everyone to change no more evolution, no more differences, everyone being equal while on paper sounds good. The reapers win all normal life is gone never to reappear. Destroy is the only option, resist the Reapers and kill them all! Edi and the Geth's sacrifice won't in vain they give their lives for us to survive and end the cycle of destruction.
@@willhornsby206 if it weren’t for the developers confirming that Shepard is not indoctrinated at any point, maybe I’d agree. But I cannot agree on the sacrifice part. EDI and the Geth are not even given a choice here, they don’t even know it’s on the table. They’re out there one minute shooting Reapers and Husks and then the next, they’re all just dead. Because you killed them all. Any future AI race will see that even Shepard, someone who brokered peace between Synthetic and Organic life, was more than willing to destroy their predecessors to save Organic life and have no reason to believe that their lives are considered in any way equal to Organics. And in a way, that’s spitting on Legion’s sacrifice. You rendered it completely pointless by just killing them all off anyway, you might as well have just let the Quarian’s kill the Geth back on Rannoch.
@@reaperofthings💯
Pinnacle Station is available as a mod for LE's PC version. The Legendary Edition's gameplay improvements don't help. DLC is still broken.
Shhh, let me believe
But that's only for PC so it doesn't make a difference.
It's bad until you have stronger weapons. Then it's just passable.
The hammerhead could've been great if they let you dodge projectiles like in the mako. I could see a version of 1 where you can pick between the two for each mission as a mobility vs tankyness tradeoff.
Also nothing can compare in the series to how warm and fuzzy the Citadel makes you feel. I wish there was even more slice of life. Especially an epilogue for the perfect destroy ending with Shepard recovering and hanging out with their romance and friends. We may get that in 4 or whatever they decide to do tho.
Even when enemies shoot missles at the Hammerhead, usually they're seeking and will chase you down.
And yeah Citadel is super gratifying.
Just the shot of David in that contraption in Overlord makes my eyes glisten. It's just so wrong...
Does the same for me for different reasons when I see him in Grissom in ME3.
Personally, I'd put "Sky" to C, Overlord up to B, Omega up to A. Otherwise I think you pretty much nailed it.
Yeah when Overlord hits, it hits. And not a fan od Bring Down the Sky?
Also just read the bit in the description and I completely agree.
Look at the Borg in Star Trek: you can outright walk around their ships and you are so unthreatening to them, so beneath them, that they don't even bother to fight you. That arrogance is absolutely something the Reapers would have too
my favorite part about Zaeed's loyalty mission is that you can save it for post game and just leave him for dead lmao
Yeah, but in order to get it is with a lot renegade points. Shepard left him behind amid the blast.
I agree with the list, would only swap Leviathan and Shadow Broker due to romance alone being what tips it over.
Liara romancers definitely eat well with that DLC
It’s nice that your love interest in Leviathan(at least if they’re a squad mate) has some unique lines. Especially when Shep comes from their meeting with Leviathan
I completely hated Overlord. I understand why it can be important to see the inherent cruelty of Dr. Archer to his brother, but I still think its unacceptable to make Dr. Archer that bad and face no real consequence. The closest thing to consequence is what happens in ME3 (I didn't tell him that David was ok), but seriously, Shepard kills people for much less than the abuse that Dr. Archer put David through. And while the over-gratuitous violence might make someone seek a new perspective if they are ableist, I am autistic and I got SO uncomfortable when I realized what they were setting up. Though David is arguably the core of the DLC, he's barely even a character. His writing perpetuates tropes that makes autistic people seem alien or robotic or completely not understandable to non-autistic people.
As a neurodivergant person myself, I always interpreted it as a direct deconstruction of the savant trope. Showing how reducing autistic people to 'human computers' leads to cruelty.
And they make up for Archer's fate in 3 because you can make him kill himself which is brutal.
@@pikmonwolf I can definitely see how David is a deconstruction of the savant trope, but for me it would have stuck and felt better to see if they explicitly let David talk to Shepard, or made David's abstract communication with Shepard a bit more blatant. Maybe let Shepard try to talk directly to David? Because he's communicating what happened through the video footage that he plays when you're in the mainframe or whatever happens. Maybe allow that to be more of a dialogue than a series of exposition.
Overall, I can recognize that Overlord is pretty groundbreaking for its time, and maybe its unfair of me to ask for better when the conversation on neurodiversity has improved so much since Overlord was released.
I disagree; maybe the DLC hit me so hard because of my nephew, and I would have preferred to get more David 'screen time's if even just in the form of video clips where we see him having a life outside of Gavin, but coming back in ME3 is one of the best parts of ME3 to me and the only reason to do the DLC.
Good overview, I just think putting Arrival as the worst DLC doesn't make sense because of its story impact alone. The writing isn't great, but it doesnt warrant calling it the worst. It just should have been something that triggers much later. Firewalker should definitely take the worst spot here. I also dont think Leviathan deserves to be in the S tier, ahead of LotSB at that. It's B tier for me, A if I wanted to be generous, it feels shoehorned in and it's never mentioned again except by the Catalyst.
I don't know if you saw my video on Arrival but the writing is really just that bad. And I'm curious why you don't like Leviathan?
I saw that you made videos about Mordin, Legion and Jacob and I was wondering if you're thinking on making one for Tali, Wrex or Miranda (they're my favorites along with Mordin).
Perhaps, I've definitely got some stuff I wanna say about Miranda.
This is completely tangential, but I have an unresearched hunch that the ME2 DLC vehicle sections (both the Hammerhead and the LotSB vehicle) were meant as Proof of Concepts to see if they wanted to integrate something similar in ME3.
Could be. The taxi was fun, but who knows, might've also been annoying if it overstayed its welcome like the Hammerhead.
Played the trilogy for the first time, and i fully agree with Citadel being the top pick. It adds so much to the game in my opinion. It also feels like a final celebration before going into the end game moment, gives a much needed light hearted break in between the trauma simulator that is ME3.
This specially got me to finish the game after i messed up The Quarians cause of my ME2 decisions ( but hey, just more fuel to replay it perfectly). I honestly just dropped the game for a few days after realising that even after choosing the Geth, i couldn't save Legion, and the scene with Tali, i just needed a breat (I had made the decision that i wouldn't reload for the first playthrough, and just see how things play out.)
Overally, huge fan of this dlc.
Yeah it's a nice time to catch your breath.
I cannot believe you put Normandy Crash Site and Firewalker above Arrival!
It may have awkward dialogue and a weird plot twist with Kenson’s motivations, but it’s the only part of the story of ME2 that actually advances the main reaper plot line. Arrival should have been the main story of ME2, instead of a pointless heist to take down the Collectors we should have been gathering a team to rescue an alliance scientist (Maybe from the Collectors instead of the Batarians), the game should end with the way Arrival ended.
I also think Leviathan is better than citadel, and agin it’s what the main story should have been.
The issue is that Arrival is so important and impactful that the plot holes matter so much more.
Well, you can save it for after the suicide mission and make it the final mission.
i think the reason why people don't like leviathan nowadays is because it doubles down on the ai overthrown organics thing and just completely drops the dark energy plot point. That's why I don't entirely enjoy it. I like the lore and stuff. I just wish it kind of implied it
The thing is, AI vs Organics has been a theme way more than Dark Energy. Dark Energy was referenced like 3 times in ME2 and that's it. It was just throwaway lines, no real theme.
Organics vs Synthetics ties into the Geth, Saren, and a few side quests as well like the gambling AI and haywire robot factory.
@pikmonwolf well I just wish that there is more than ai vs organics plot going on
@@pikmonwolfSure, it was a theme. But it was never THE theme of Mass Effect.
HES BACK!!!
I never left, these videos take awhile alright 😅
I think the reasoning for this list is pretty much spot on, so great job on the sorting! You've actually helped me appreciate Leviathan a bit more, which, for some reason, didn't connect with me at all when I played it except that last incredibly atmospheric bit.
If it were up to me, and all of this is completely subjective and therefore probably objectively a bad take, I'd definitely swap Overlord and Zaeed, and rank Javik lower.
Zaeed is a very nothing character to me. He's entertaining enough but hardly complex and ultimately what I'm trying to do is emotionally connect with and analyze the companions and story and, well, neither him nor his mission offer much in the way of that.
Overlord is mechanically flawed but the story justifies a lot of it. It stands as the only time a story has ever gotten me to rage at my screen in a good way, throwing insults at Gavin Archer to be precise. David's portrayal is... controversial but as an autistic person myself, he meant a lot to me and I wanted nothing more than to make it stop for him. To make it quiet. It's telling amd appropriate that the Paragon interrupt is to hit Gavin, that absolute piece of shit, directly in his very fucking deserving face.
Javik has the opposite problem as Zaeed. Very unique but completely insufferable. I know that a lot of players love him and I'm a sucker for assholes with good arcs, love both Jack and Miranda very much, but Javik doesn't have anything that would redeem him for me. I can take him shitting on me/Shep for all eternity but constantly belittling everyone and everything I've grown to care about I can only take so much of before I stop caring about his issues. No squadmate is optional to me on principle but if I had to pick one for the airlock, he'd easily be in contention.
Thanks for the video, hoping to see more Mass Effect because I truly find all your takes on it interesting!
What's interesting about Javik is he can pretty much 'fail' his character arc. If you convince him to look at the shard, he gets immovably entrenched in the past and it's made clear that he is the worst fate Shepard could have, losing everything and never moving on. If he doesn't look at the shard you see his arc approach its conclusion on Earth. Writing a book with Laira or going to live among Hanar are him finally letting the past go and embracing the future he finds himself in.
Citadel quest is Shepard's loyalty mission and the party is the ME version of the Last Supper
Zaeed Massani should be higher as he takes rejection in the citadel party like an absolute legend, dont wanma hook up? Thats your call now wheres more booze an other angry shoot things people?
He's not a gentle man, but he is a gentleman.
I think genesis 1 is okay, if you want a save file for ME2. But genesis 2 is the worst if you want something to import for ME 3.
My thoughts exactly.
Arrival was important because it gave a better explanation for why Shepard was grounded on Earth at the beginning of ME3 than simply "you worked for Cerberus to save humanity when we couldn't be bothered; thanks for the Normandy 2; but we don't trust you so you are permanently grounded.". Zaeed's inclusion was because you do not get a good "Soldier" type until you get Grunt. If you are playing a Tech or Biotic; you don't have a tank to hold the line for a long time. Garus can't do it; he's too fragile; even if you insist he use an assault rifle instead of his favorite sniper he's just too fragile. I agree that Firewalker and Overlord suck; I've never really even attempted to complete either one after seven or eight play-thru's. I just cannot get the hang of the frigging useless Hammerhead. It is in absolutely no way superior to the Mako except it jumps better. It can't even cross lava any better than the Mako even though heat-convection should push it higher up over the lava to help mitigate the heat. It's a hover-tank that feels like it'd get tripped up by a poorly mowed lawn. The ME3 end-game. I don't hate it; but the original BS of having to do something like 200 hours of Multiplayer to get a slightly better crappy ending sequence was frustrating. I actually never minded the final choices or the three colors of light thing; it was that ending scene with the kid and Grandpa in the snow that made absolutely no sense to me. They should have just gone with the original planned ending even after it was publicly leaked - that would have been better imho. The mission in ME where you get trapped in the mine with the bomb; the bad guy who planned it was supposed to be a Batarian; but they hadn't figured out what they looked like yet; maybe they didn't have the assets to build them; so they wimped out. Liara deciding to avoid getting caught in inescapable traps and excavate for dirty laundry instead of old bones kind of makes sense; especially if you remember that all the ancient relics you find in ME are nearly all Reaper Traps. IMHO citadel seemed so pointless. The other DLCs contributed something to the story; finding out that Cerburus cloned you in case they lost control of you really contributes nothing. How did the clone even escape being indoctrinated like the entire rest of Cerberus? I didn't realize that Traynor actually suits up to help out though, a saw the scenes of her in armor, that was cool. It would be kind of fun to watch the techie who was obsessed with her toothbrush that got left behind become a bad-ass. :D
I still think that arresting you for being Cerberus makes more sense than anything that happens in Arrival. Also you can get Grunt immediately so Zaeed really isn't changing anything there. You can get Grunt before you even go to Omega.
@@pikmonwolf Certainly you can go to get Grunt right away; it will suck hard if you don't have a soldier to keep all those tubie-Krogan's out of your face and you are doing it as a biotic or tech; with one of each for a backup. Not even to mention the boss fight with the Ymir at the end. You can get grunt; but you'll probably double the amount of time it takes to complete the game trying.
19:19 - I don't think it should be appreciated. The Extended Cut was made on horrible crunch (so bad a third of the development team quit), and under the intense and sustained harassment and death threats of the developers from some of the worst of the worst of the fanbase, with the women on the team getting the worst of it. The amount of abuse on both the executive and customer level that made the Extended Cut happen should be a scar against it for the rest of time. And no ending can be so bad that it warrants that kind of abuse.
To that I fully agree, but my takeaway is that it is because of that that we should be grateful for its existence. The developers deserved better and delivered something quite good when a large portion of the audience behaved so poorly that they didn't really 'deserve' it.
If it had cost money, it would be somewhat of a different story. Bioware executives squeezing the workers hard to make extra cash, which was an issue with the trilogy as a whole.
Instead it was a fix that was desperately needed. And I think that the state of the ending in the original release was genuinely unacceptable, but again as you said it didn't warrant the abuse from a certain chunk of the playerbase. But many people raised reasonable responsible critiques. A large amount of people did respond properly.
In the end the blame falls to the management who delivered the subpar product in the first place which they then had to overwork their employees to fix.
It should have been the ending to begin with. The original ending was an insult.
Amanda Kenson is a 1:1 with that female scientist in Doom 2016 who wants to open a portal to hell for "reasons". I think they both might have british accents too
At least the Doom one becomes a cool bossfight lol
My problem with Leviathan is that it really dumbs down the squadmates and Shepard, because every time they see something that its cleary not right they just brush it aside
What do you mean?
@@pikmonwolf they dealt with indoctrination before, so when they see weird people talking crazy they at least should suspect something
It also makes the Reapers seem like they are nothing. Also makes Sovereign look like an Idiot lol
@@lightsinadarkworld2013 But it isn’t indoctrination, it’s more like mind control and the people aren’t acting the same as indoctrinated people.
@@lightsinadarkworld2013But they do suspect things? They even say that what happened with Garneu’s assistant is reminiscent of indoctrination.
When they go to TGS Mineral Works they can tell things aren’t right so they start breaking into places to figure it out themselves.
man the Lair of the Shadow Broker was so good
Ugh firewalker was the bane of my existence. Also I love your "SIGH" at the Overlord DLC for the hammerhead, because that's literally the thing I hate the most about that whole DLC. I have an impossible time getting around the cannons at the end. Love your ranking selection, Citadel would absolutely be my #1 as well - it was just absolutely pure fun. I didn't love Leviathan, but it was still a good DLC and really felt like it should have been originally included in the game (that and Javik's) because it's SO important to the story.
Agreed, definitely should've been base game, but hey, now it is!
Good list overall but I’d place Normandy Crash Site in F tier on account of how laughably short it is and the fact it’s basically a walking sim collectathon. Presley’s journals are nice but it’s a waste of time imo.
I love the Citadel DLC, and I think the Citadel Epilogue Mod, which only lets you play it after the main story has wrapped up, makes it feel less weird tonally. It’s like the celebration at the end of Return of the Jedi that way.
For me F tier is the stuff where I think the best experience is not even installing it. So it would be D tier at worst. I feel like overall a play through where you do Normandy crash site feels more whole than one where you don't do it.
@@pikmonwolf That’s a fair point. I’ve recently finished the trilogy for the first time and couldn’t believe how bad Arrival was lmao. Got to the point where I was doing a Mystery Science Theater 3000 bit in my head as I was going along to make it tolerable.
I really wish they made a DLC where you can get a Batarian as a squadmate
the first part of arrival is great but the whole reveal of reaper origin kills the story
I'd like the prison section if the Batarian helmets HAD THE RIGHT NUMBER OF EYE HOLES!!!
@@pikmonwolf batarian helmets never have the right number of eye holes
As my name implies, one game (Freelancer from 2003) is closer to my heart than any other, but even that game couldn't evoke so many emotions from me like Mass Effect did.
I heard how good the Citadel DLC was, but on my first true trilogy run, I just simply didn't realize where it even started.. went in blindly, and by sheer chance and dare I say luck, I somehow managed to hold Citadel until the very end of my trilogy run.. precisely 100 hours invested, hundreds of choices and decisions later, after getting to know my crew and friends, the scene of "best days of my life" followed by Shepard's final sentence of "The Best" broke my godam heart so much that I just sobbed for almost an hour straight with no exaggeration.. in that moment, I felt solemn peace with life as a whole and tried to make the most of this sudden outburst of emotions and just really immerse myself into this feeling, knowing nothing else will even come close to it. Despite what I've read and heard about the ending of the trilogy, I still thoroughly enjoyed it and made all three of them just so I can put that run to rest properly.
Despite the absolute lows the series has seen, it managed to culminate in probably the best experiences gaming as a whole can offer us during those times. It really showed that it went above and beyond displaying how it transcends art forms where the player themselves are the catalyst in creating the art itself. I have nothing less than eternal gratitude for everyone who worked on these games, allowing me a peak into their creativity and fantasies.
We really just lived "The Best days" while taking it for granted huh?
"Loyalty mission for Shepard" is a fantastic way to describe the Citadel DLC. I like to also refer to it as "The anime Beach day episode" for how silly it can turn into
I would put leviathan in F tier the reveal of the origins makes a worse antagonist. Organics makes synthetics then are killed by them so the Leviathans make synthetics.
I mean, their explanation of "we already had tons of thralls, so we figured some more wouldn't be an issue" makes enough sense.
F tier is crazy 💀
I personally dislike Leviathans, not because of the plot, but because the missions themselves are kinda... dull. The last 2 missions are fine, but the first 2, where you have to rummage through Bryson's lab and find clues, then go to that asteroid with even more fetch quests (find access card for this, find access card for that, finally get to the final door but nah gotta guide that drone to repair the two power generators, because of course a drone would need you to stay right next to it, otherwise it wouldn't know how to do its programmed job lol). It's just tedious to me in the same sense that Overlord has those tedious parts as you clearly mentioned, and rightly so. Personally I'd have put it in C tier, it's not bad, but definitely not deserving of S tier. I would have put Arrival in C tier. I know all the plot holes, I hear you, there's a lot of dumb plot holes, like Shepard getting incapacitated repeatedly, then waking up "just in time", two times in a row, being able to "conveniently" take control of those mechs that just so happened to be there, and escaping the system "just in time". Then there's also the whole thing about the Rho artifact that all those PhD scientists somehow didn't bother to confine, even with some kind of forcefield/shield. I get it, it's pretty dumb, and it's been a problem with lots of different franchises in the sci-fi and action genre in general. But the DLC in itself is fun, it's like one of the only moments where Shepard gets to go on a solo mission without anyone to back them up and it honestly feels good to rambo your way through the asteroid base, blasting all those poor bastards along the way. The short conversation with Harbinger and the final cutscene are also oddly satisfying and give me goosebumps every time. I also really don't see how it "completely breaks" the story. It's actually a pretty good idea on Shepard's part, a very pragmatic one, to destroy an entire star system to slow the Reapers down and delay their invasion. It was a risky bet that COULD have paid off, if the whole galactic civilization wasn't led by a bunch of dumb bureaucrats and morons who'd rather burry their heads deep in the sand rather than face the reality of their impending doom. That, unfortunately, was not up to Shepard. I like to think that Shepard thought to themselves they had done everything in their power to delay the Reapers and give the galaxy some respite to prepare their forces so that the rest was now laying on the council's and the alliance's shoulders. Is it a flawed DLC? Definitely a resounding YES, but complete trash-tier, worst DLC of all time? Really? Bruh. It's your video, you're entitled to your opinion, but damn is it a bad one xD
The thing with Arrival is that it's so poorly written that it's massive story impacts are like piss stains on fresh linens. I much prefer them just not being there.
Also I agree the first Leviathan mission is a bit slow paced. But I'm happy they took time to build the tension. And the 2nd mission has enough action to make up for it.
I can confirm that Wanted Dead is awesome. Just has some performance issues that don't seem like they're gonna get patched.
They did a patch recently, bug fixes, made it a bit more stable, so don't be so pessimistic. And yeah, great game. Played more of it even after the ad was all made and approved lol.
@@pikmonwolf oh really? Was the patch for consoles? I've been checking every couple of weeks hoping for one so I've been starting to lose hope lol
@@lxfenix Nope, it was on PC as well. Just released the other day.
@@pikmonwolf Damn well hopefully that means a console patch is coming soon. Thanks for the info!
@@lxfenix yep, the console patch is coming in a few weeks
I hate the shadow broker DLC because it forces me to kill off my favorite Council Spectre. 😢
She's a great villain, 2 had a lot of great one off baddies.
21:45 that’s why you did it? Sure the locus is great but I did it so I could kick Jacob out as quick as possible. Jokes aside good video.
You don't even need to do the mission for that, just fly to the Citadel and you never need him again
Still waiting for you to do a whole review of how shitty (and sometimes awesome) Andromeda is. Your videos on Mass Effect are always on point. Sometimes I come in prepared to totally disagree with you, only to finish the video being 100% on your side. Keep the good work!
I don't know if I ever will honestly. I like to talk about games I either love or hate, and I felt like Andromeda was overall, fine.
For the extended cut, the Normandy pick up scene. Harbinger is an AI and has sensors not eyes. The Normandy is a stealth ship and was silent running. So Harbinger couldn't see the ship.
It's a bit criminal to me that you never mentioned Thane's last lines to Shepard in Citadel because those are some of my absolute favorites in the series. Thane is one of my favorite characters in the trilogy and having such a genuinely touching final send off had me crying.
Just thought I’d let you know that Pinnacle Station was restored as a free mod for Legendary Edition on Nexus mods. It’s really solid!
Surprised that was possible honestly. How's it run? Any bugs?
It works very well! Its recieved a few patches since I first played it but all of the content from the original worked just fine for me. Really benefits from the improved combat system! :D@@pikmonwolf
Whoa, hold up, you got an apartment for completing Pinnacle station?
As for no.1, hell yeah! I could play Citadel over and over! It's sooo good! As you say, there's so much stuff to do in it as well!
Yeah, it's a nice apartment. I miss it in Legendary Edition. And Citadel is always so fun
I've been replaying legendary edition and CZcams said "here's this channel to solidify some beliefs and give you extra thoughts to think instead of sleeping." Needless to say I've been watching at work all day
I've never heard Citadel described as "Shepherd's loyalty mission" but oh my god that is exactly what it is!!!! I can't believe I never thought of that.
Why the _hell_ does anyone think Omega is a bad DLC?
It definitely has flaws and the original release was very buggy. But it's way ovethated.
Buddy is in love with the word “genuinely”
You're the first person to point it out lol. I realized too late into the edit that I said it like, twice a segment. It's because I wrote each DLC section as it's own mini-script that I failed to notice how much I said it overall.
One of the best ranking videos on CZcams that I have enjoyed in a very long time
18:22. Well, tbf, Zaeed and Kasumi were originally meant to ship with ME2 but got cut from the game and later added as DLC. They weren’t always planned to be DLC squad mates.
Really? Never knew that
Pinnacle station enjoyer here. It's super fun to feel absurdly overpowered with ME1 combat, and some of the missions are challenging in a fun way and require quick thinking and planning
I wouldn't call myself an enjoyer lol. I mainly miss the apartment at the end.
I am currently playing through ME and did Leviathan just before Thessia, there is some dialogue that seems a bit out of place, sorry I cannot tell you exactly what it is but I distinctly remember thinking "why would they say that" when they just got that huge revelation from Leviathan?"
Yeah, it really needs to be played at the right moment.
I wholeheartedly agree with the placements, especially Omega. I see so many people hating on it but the main issue is where it sits in the chronology of the reaper war, it always feels as though its sidetracking you even if you are getting resources for the main conflict. The story on its own though is good, the set pieces and gameplay remain engaging throughout.
I think it makes sense to take time to do the mission. Shepard will touch down on planets for much less with the N7 missions.
Mass Effect 2 is a pretty dark and messed up game. But Overlord should get some brownie points for making the rest of ME2 look like a nice walk in the park. Holy shit that dlc was dark! And the ending still sends chills down my spine to this day.
I love the Hammerhead. My biggest complaint about 3's gameplay was the lack of the Hammerhead.
Edit: My understanding is Javik's mission as always planned as the first DLC for 3. They just managed to get it done after the base game went gold but before the game released. Would it have been nice if they incleded the DLC for free? Sure but IMO them not doing so got more backlash then it deserved.
Well hey, everyone's allowed their own opinion lmao.
And he was originally going to be an important part of the main plot, so he was definitely originally designed as base game content.
@@pikmonwolf One of the things you mentioned about the Hammerhead is the hitscan enemies. And that mistake in the enemy design is IMO its biggest flaw. The Hammehead was designed like something meant to evade hits not soak them so the hitscan enemies make it seem much worse then it should I
@@roguerifter9724 Yea, the two vehicles are definitely exact opposites. One is slow and tanky, the other is fast and nimble, but weakly armored due to weight constraints.
@@TwinPeaksIndustries Yeah and I definitely prefer the agility. there's a reason in most vehicle focused games involving Mech or fighter piloting, or driving Tanks with one or two exceptions I rarely take something from the heaviest weight class if I have a choice and usually when making custom designs favor mobility. I'm the kind of player who when they start a new Armored Core game the first thing I do is go looking for Hover Legs
Yeah, a lot of different choices than I would have made in this list. All of my choices would be how much narrative content the DLC added and Firewalker is dead last. I agree with the lobotomy suggestion.
Still unsure why you hate on Arrival so hard, given it's at least an _end_ to ME2. Also, rescuing David is the only reason to do Overlord. But to me (and the Geth lore) makes it higher than where you put it, despite the fact that they tied it to the hovercraft.
At least you gave Leviathan some love. And Zaeed. I wrote that scene into my massive fanfic just because of how much Zaeed rocks.
9:32 Hmm, when you put it that way, I wonder if the Batmobile in Arkham Knight was inspired by the Mako, at least partially. You avoid projectiles and you use a machine gun and a slow cannon as well.
Probably not directly inspired but I wouldn't be surprised if it was an influence among many other vehicles.
Then again Harley Quinns appearance was directly inspired by Vampire The Masquarade Bloodline so who knows.
i loved the combat sim part of the Citadel DLC. i easily spent 5 hours there on my first playthrough just enjoying it. especially when Jack came around as not only someone who could fight with me(really missed her as a companion in 3) but also having the unique scene with her that just fits her style completely. loved every second of the dlc.
Also
I love citadl dlc for giving you a gun from the first game
Going back from mags to cooldown was so damn funny for the entire dlc for me
Yeah that's such a nice rifle
my only problem with leviathan that we dont see them fighting after... did they do anything in the end?
Would've been cool to see them in the final mission, but I get why that didn't happen. We do see them pull a full sovereign class Reaper out the sky which is badass.
Another weird thing about the Genesis comic for Mass Effect 2 to Mass Effect 3 is that it doesn't seem to be able to compute the fact you can complete all the Loyalty Missions BEFORE the Joker mission and thus if using it for Mass Effect 3 then you need to choose having a fully loyal squad OR having crew characters that have very little impact on Mass Effect 3 like Kelly Chambers..
Did you really have to make me cry at the end there?? Femshep and Garrus always make me cry.. Great video for a great game!
Making Zaeed a Batarian wouldn't mean we'd get rid of the voice actor lol what are you talking about?
I mean they could've kept Sachs, but he wouldn't have sounded like any other batarian in the game who all had a distinct voice style. They could add a filter, but then it'd sound odd.
@pikmonwolf But none of the squad mates are voiced by the generic species VA? All of them have a different VAs lol
I agree fully with the rest of the video tho, great breakdown of the DLCs!
tbh I honestly forgot about the Reaper IFF was probably still on the Normandy in ME3. That makes the Normandy pickup scene seem much more believable and interesting. Makes me feel better that Indoctrination theory was mothballed.
No. The game mechanic where scanning a star system too many times results in Reapers finding you and pursuing you shows that neither the stealth systems nor the IFF are enough to hide from Reapers.
Yeah, the IFF is explicitely something you use a lot in 3. EDI mentions it and scanning can compromise it
Kasumi's loyalty mission is honestly my favorite in ME2 and one of my favorites in the whole series. The party/infiltration segment, Hock's goofy SA accent, the lore tidbits about Earth's history, the scene with Keiji, THE SOUNDTRACK. It's just really good. The only thing that would have made it better would be getting to bring another squadmate for the party segment, but thankfully they did that in Citadel.
Probs one of my favorite mass effect moments was just that whole conversation with the leviathan and that damn tasty music
Putting Arrival as the worst when Pinnacle Station exists... Bold move.
Hey Pinnacle Station isn't full of plot holes lol
@@pikmonwolf it was so bad that they even lost the source code for it lmao 😂
I don't like the explanation they went with for Leviathan. Maybe I would have enjoyed it more if it had created some other origin for the Reapers.
The rest of the DLC is great though. Many great moments and fun gameplay.
I think it would've been better if they explicitely were preventing things from evolving to the apex of Leviathan and The Thorian, but I think the explanation is pretty solid.
If there is a universe where pinnacle station is in legendary edition, where would you put it on the list?